VistaPrint – what’s beneath their success?

Robert Keane, CEO and Chairman of Vista print shared a while ago an interesting insight into VistaPrint’s success: “The marketing prowess we have in Janet’s (Janet Holian, VP Marketing) team and the 100-plus people doing direct marketing, we spend significantly more money on marketing and direct marketing than we do on printing. We spend about 20% of revenues on printing, low 20s and mid 30s in terms of marketing. Secondly, we have six-plus years of software developing in over 100 people in the technology and development group, and those - both marketing, tech and development, are growing roughly in line with revenues.”
What can we learn from Robert’s comment of his company’s success?

• having a great product is an essential, but letting people know about is paramount to your success
• a product which is excellent today must be improved to remain competitive tomorrow
• direct marketing works miracles – especially when you do it skillfully

If you like numbers, here are some related to VistaPrint: “revenue in the first quarter of fiscal year 2007 surged 73% to $50 million and net income came in at $6 million, up from $2.9 million in the same period a year ago”.

These are pretty impressive numbers, especially if you think about the fact that this on-line business serves small business customers, like you and me. It is even more impressive if you experience their services and notice how fast and well they respond to their customers and how their products are as good as they say they are.

Is your marketing in-tune with your goals?